1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to a metatarsal guard to be inserted in the upper of a safety shoe in order to protect the instep (metatarsal region) of the wearer's foot from injury caused by the impact of a falling object.
2. Brief description of the prior art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,908,963 granted to Krajcir et al. on Mar. 20, 1990 describes a metatarsal guard made of plastic material and forming an arch extending from the sole of a safety shoe on one side of the wearer's instep to the sole of that shoe on the other side of the instep whereby the arch is supported by the shoe's sole. The metatarsal guard comprises a series of transversal ribs and is made flexible by joining these transversal ribs through thinner webs to thereby enable articulation of the ribs and prevent the metatarsal guard to impede movement of the wearer's foot.
As can be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, fabrication of the metatarsal guard of U.S. Pat. No. 4,908,963 requires complex and costly molding techniques. Also, the thinner webs of the metatarsal guard are susceptible, with time, to break to thereby reduce the performance of the metatarsal guard.